Secrets Revealed Online Talk All Aboard!

Secrets Revealed - All Aboard! Aspects of Gloucestershire railways from the archives. Gloucestershire is rich in railway heritage and history – from the early plateways and tramways, to country branch lines, dock railways, quarries lines and the main line railways. In the past there were numerous companies that built and operated railways across the county, including two of the largest, the Great Western Railway (led by Brunel, who left his mark here) and the Midland Railway – whose meeting created the notorious ‘Break in gauge’ at Gloucester’. The zenith of the rail network in the county was around 1900 and after the grouping condensed the nation’s railways into the ‘Big Four’, Gloucestershire fell firmly within the Great Western Railway. Sadly, after the World Wars (during which local railway firms contributed much to the war effort), the Beeching axe fell, and the network condensed. Thankfully, a feel for our county’s railway history can be found in the local heritage railways (notably the Dean Forest Railway and the Gloucestershire-Warwickshire Railway) and also within the records held at the county’s archives. This presentation will reveal a glimpse of this past, which is still much loved and celebrated.